Each quarter I sit down 1:1 with every member of our team to conduct their QOAR — Quarterly Opportunities & Accomplishments Review.
We both prepare by answering the same questions separately, then talk through our answers together. Out of that conversation comes a set of individual quarterly Rocks to work toward for the next 90 days.
This quarter it dawned on me: I don’t do this for myself.
The whole framework is designed to be at least partly a self-evaluation. So why not turn it on myself?
Here are the questions — and my honest answers.
Biggest Accomplishments — What are you most proud of? What added the most value? What moved you forward the most?
- Hired our 5th full-time team member.
- Empowered Amanda to fully run her households. At this point I show up to the AIM, add my two cents, and get out of the way.
- Put Taylor in charge of operations and day-to-day.
- Registered with the SEC.
That last one is a big deal. And honestly, so is the second one.
Opportunities for Improvement — What’s your Achilles heel? How can you elevate your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses?
I have a tough time letting go of the vine.
I keep inserting myself into things the team is 100% empowered to handle. And if I’m being honest, it’s because it’s my comfort zone. A classic sign of Resistance — gravitating toward the easy and familiar, rationalizing its importance, all to avoid cutting the new path through the jungle.
Which is, to be clear, freakin’ hard.
The flip side: I genuinely love leading people and helping our team develop. So the opportunity isn’t to disappear — it’s to focus on leadership like it’s my actual job. Because at this stage of Financial Zen, it’s the most important thing I can do for our team and our Members.
Love & “Meh” — What do you LOVE and what’s “meh”? How do you do more of the first and use leverage for the second?
Love:
- Leading the team.
- Solving complex financial planning problems.
- Building systems that help us move faster, add new services, and keep punching above our weight class.
Meh:
- Day-to-day stuff. (Even though I can’t help myself getting in there.)
- Work that genuinely doesn’t require me to do it.
- Billing, bookkeeping, and most back office responsibilities.
The answer to the meh column is the same as the answer to the love column. The team. Business partners. Technology. Leverage.
Biggest Lessons & Takeaways — What were your “aha” moments?
Three things I’m carrying into Q3:
Leadership is now my most important role. It’s not Rick + Support Staff anymore. It’s Rick and our first fully empowered, self-sustaining team. That’s a different job than the one I’ve been doing.
Get comfortable being uncomfortable again. We’ve broken through to the next phase. Growth is painful — in the best way. Lean into it.
Focus, focus, focus. My entrepreneurial bright-shiny-object syndrome is a daily battle. The system: set goals, achieve the goals, add the new shiny thing to the list and reprioritize if it deserves it. Then attack the next one. Repeat.
Focus for Next Quarter — What’s the #1 thing to keep top-of-mind?
One thing at a time. Measure the “Dones” in Monday. Set weekly goals and actually hit them.
And the big one: leadership, not execution. I’m tracking time spent in the business vs. on the business. Minimum target: 50/50. Stretch goal: 75/25.
That ratio will tell me everything I need to know about whether Q3 was a win.
I’d encourage every leader reading this to steal this framework for your own team. And then — like I finally did this quarter — answer the questions yourself.
You might be surprised what comes up.
Each quarter I sit down 1:1 with every member of our team to conduct their QOAR — Quarterly Opportunities & Accomplishments Review.
We both prepare by answering the same questions separately, then talk through our answers together. Out of that conversation comes a set of individual quarterly Rocks to work toward for the next 90 days.
The whole framework is designed not to be a “Performance Review,” but rather to evaluate, assess, and renew momentum for our team’s development.
This quarter it dawned on me: I don’t do this for myself.
Here are the questions – and my honest answers.
Biggest Accomplishments – What are you most proud of? What added the most value? What moved you forward the most?
– Hired Hershey, our 5th full-time team member.
– Empowered Amanda to fully run her households. At this point, I show up to the AIM, add my two cents if I have any, and get out of the way.
– Put Taylor in charge of operations and day-to-day.
– Registered with the SEC.
The last one’s a big one. We’re playing with the big boys now.
Opportunities for Improvement – What’s your Achilles heel? How can you elevate your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses?
I have a tough time letting go of the vine.
I keep inserting myself into things the team is 100% empowered to handle. And if I’m being honest, it’s because it’s my comfort zone.
A classic sign of Resistance – gravitating toward the easy and familiar, rationalizing its importance, all to avoid cutting the new path through the jungle.
Which is, to be clear, freakin’ hard.
The flip side: I genuinely love leading people and helping our team develop.
So the opportunity isn’t to disappear – it’s to focus on leadership like it’s my actual job… because now it actually is.
At this stage of Financial Zen, it’s the most important thing I can do for our team and our Members.
Love & “Meh” – What do you LOVE and what’s “meh”? How do you do more of the first and use leverage for the second?
Love:
– Leading the team.
– Solving complex financial planning problems.
– Building systems that help us move faster, add new services, and keep punching above our weight class.
Meh:
– Day-to-day stuff. (Even though I can’t help myself getting in there.)
– Work that genuinely doesn’t require me to do it.
– Billing, bookkeeping, and most back office responsibilities.
The answer to the meh column is the same as the answer to the love column. The team. Business partners. Technology. Leverage.
Biggest Lessons & Takeaways – What were your “aha” moments?
Three things I’m carrying into Q3:
1. Leadership is now my most important role. It’s not Rick + Support Staff anymore. It’s Rick and our first fully empowered, self-sustaining team. That’s a different job than the one I’ve been doing.
2. Get comfortable being uncomfortable again. We’ve broken through to the next phase. Growth is painful… in the best way. Lean into it
3. Focus, focus, focus. My entrepreneurial bright-shiny-object syndrome is a daily battle. The system: set goals, achieve the goals, add the new shiny thing to the list and reprioritize if it deserves it. Then attack the next one. Repeat.
Focus for Next Quarter – What’s the #1 thing to keep top-of-mind?
There are actually two for me.
One thing at a time. Measure the “Dones” in Monday. Set weekly goals and actually hit them.
And the big one: leadership, not execution. I’m tracking time spent “in the business” vs. “on the business.” Minimum target: 50/50. Stretch goal: 75/25.
That ratio will tell me everything I need to know about whether Q3 was a win.
Feel free to steal this framework for your own team or yourself.
You might be surprised what comes up.